Ok, I don't have an artical to send you to. These are just a few things that I have picked up over the years.

Egyptian Mythology:

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this one. It is said that when Seth slew the god Osiris, that Seth chopped his body up and scattered it across the Nile River Valley. And that Isis, wife and sister of Osiris, flew around the Nile retreving the body parts. The last peice that she could find was his genitals. But before she could reach them, they were eaten by a crab. So, in desperation, she molded him a new set out of clay.

Dark Ages:

A totally nullified eunuch was known as a charismatic back durring the late Roman Empire and the early Dark Ages. They were called charismatics because of their rarity, as the word derives from the idea of something being very rare and wonderful. They were very expensive to buy. (Information from the novel Raptor).

WWII:

Durring the last years of WWII, the Nazis developed a mine that, when stepped on, did not automatically detonate. Instead, it would send up a small charge that would explode at about groin height. The explosion obviously resulted in a rather bloody mess between the man's legs. They were known as castration mines. The article I read was unclear as to their actual deployment, if any.

Early 1980's:

Have any of you ever wondered why Hizballah (Lebanese Terrorist Organization) only abducted Americans and Brits? Simple, the Hizaballis made the mistake of kidnaping a couple Russian journalists as well. The KGB was charged with getting them out, so they abducted the brother of one of the cheif hostage takers and sent the brother's balls to him in a small, plain box. Neither Hizaballah nor any other group ever dared to make a move against the Russians again.

I thought you all might enjoy these few bits of news. I don't know where I picked up the last two bits. I have a mind like a sponge when it comes to historical facts. If I think of any more, I'll go ahead and post them for you all.

Two comments - the mines in WWII were commonly called 'Bouncing Betties." You can get paintball versions.

Second, Hezbollah is not Lebanese; it operates there because Lebanon is just south of Israel, but (like Hamas) is mostly composed of Iranians. Just FYI.

Zoroaster,

Ok, the text I read called them castration mines. Thank you for the correction.

On Hizballah, I must correct you. I just finished a Political Terrorism class with an expert in the field of Middle Eastern Terrorism. Hizballah is not mostly comprised of Iranians. They did get their training in Iran, and are comprised partially of other ethnic groups. Like the Iranians, Hizballah is Shi'a Muslim, but almost entirely comprised of Lebanese Shi'a. In point of fact, almost all of the upper echelons of Hizballah are related to each other. Hizballah grew out of local millitias trying to fight off the Israeli occupation of lower Lebanon. Around the mid-eighties they did receive a large infusion of Iranian Republican Guard troops to both reinforce and train the local millitias. As for Hamas, Hamas is heavily Egyptian and Palestinian with a few others thrown in. Hamas grew out of the Egyptian based Muslim Brotherhood. I just spent the past three months crawling around everyone's information on these groups. Iran supports Hamas, Hizballah, the PLFP-GC (created in Syria), and other Islamists, but most of the leadership and personel do not come form Iran, specifically from the current Ayatollah. Khatami and the reformists oppose both the funding and support of terrorism.

It is common thought, and propaganda, that Iran is the source of most of these Islamist organizations.

I just thought I would let you know. I do not know of any terrorist organization that was either started or based in Iran. The Abu Nidal organization was based in Iraq for a while, but then moved ot Syria and later Lybia where it came to an end. Most of my research was centered through the Israeli Intellegence web site and the BBC's archive.

I know this is nit picking... but Lebanon is to the NORTH of Israel, bordered on the east by Syria and on the west by the Mediterranean Sea.

The country to the south of Israel is Egypt.

Hezbollah is made up, by and large, by Iranians, and operates in Lebanon and many other countries.

Sorry, I was a foreign relations major, and world geography was something I had to study. Feel free to ignore this, just needed to get it out of my system.

Of course, I shouldn't say too much, at least you had the proper region. Most Americans would point to a map of the world at the approximate location of Delaware (or some other equally inappropriate location :Australia ) and say that was Lebanon.

So what does everyone think about the struggle against communism in Freedonia?

Losethem,

I'm a history major, with a heavy education in Politics, Literature, Archaeology, Anthropology, and a lot of other things.

Ask the Israelis (which is where I got my information), Hizballah IS Lebanese. I have to stand by my information because I have verified all of it. They, and just about everyone else, get support from Iran. The late Ayatollah sent members of the Republican Guard through Syria to Lebanon.

As for geography....Lebanon boarders Israel to the north, Syria to the north east, Saudi Arabia and Jordan to the East, Egypt to the South. The Gaza Strip use to be part of Egypt until 1967 when it was acquired by Israel durring the 67 War along with the Sinai, which was later returned. Sudan boarders Egypt to the South. I know my geography. I also know that Israel holds the Golan Heights, once owned by Syria.

The foot soldiers of Hizballah are almost all Lebanese. The military and spirtual leaders are both Lebanese. "Radical Shia group formed in Lebanon; dedicated to creation of Iranian-style Islamic republic in Lebanon and removal of all non-Islamic influences from the area. Strongly anti-West and anti-Israel. Closely allied with, and often directed by, Iran but may have conducted operations that were not approved by Tehran," says the Naval Post Graduate School. In fact, evey source I can find says that Hizballah is a Lebanese organization, born in Lebanon and dominated by Lebanese. If simply getting support from Iran makes one Iranian, then the PLFP-GC (Syrian), Islamic Jihad (Egypt) and Hamas (Gaza Strip) are all Iranian.

OK, firstly, if we are going to continue this debate, I'm moving this to the Celler.

Secondly, just to clarify. My information has been gathered from the information provided by the governments of America, Britian, France and Israel, by the BBC, Times (London), Florida Times Union (Jacksonville), and various Lebanese media sources. And they all say the exact same thing.

Now, I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but unless you've got information that none of these organizations have, I would tend to believe all of these people more. If you do have other sources of information, then I would be interested in hearing about them.

Did you all know that Indiana also has a Lebannon?

Just FYI. I have lived in Indiana all my life when I wasn't living somewhere else and I just thought that you would all like to know.

BTW I always suspected that the Hizballah was composed of inbred Arabs.

I wonder if any of them only have two toes?

A-1

Kentucky also has a Lebanon. I grew up about five miles from Cairo, and currently live inbetween Paris and Versailles. I would say something about coming up with original city names, but then Kentucky also has places like "Beaver Creek" and "Big Bone Lick," so it's probably best they don't, or we'd end up with town named things like "Enourmous Throbbing Erection" or "Holler Fulla Pussy."

Anyway, I get my information on Hezbollah from the people who are in the middle of the situation - several Lebanese guys who lived there, some Jordanians, Egyptians, and Israelis. The Israeli government claims they're Lebanese so they can justify further incursions into their soverign territory. The Lebanese are still trying to rebuild from their civil war; very few of them are really all that interested in taking on Israel right now.